This blog tracks a ten year epic of kick-starting a whole writing career, with spies and thrillers and now, vampires. I cover the creative process, stuff that blows up, history, philosophy, and theology. If you like any or all of the above, you'll like this one. We talk about comic books, movies, music, and writing. Usually, all at the same time.

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Thursday, February 23, 2017

View From The Cheap Seats

Guest bloggers are filling in for Declan while he is on vacation. Today Paul Piatt is here with his views on politics and culture.

From where I'm sitting way up here
in the nose-bleed section, it sure looks like Barack Obama kept his word about
fundamentally transforming the United States of America. Andrew Breitbart is credited with observing
that politics flow from culture. If this
is true, then Barack Obama poisoned the cultural headwaters of America, and
it's above flood stage.

I've only been around for half a
century and politically aware for about the last 15 years or so, but I cannot
remember a time when everything was so hyper-politicized. Consider the Super Bowl. Most of the buzz before, during, and after
the game was about whether the half-time performance would be a big in-ya-face
moment to the President, how exciting, progressive, and impactful the
advertisements were, and how the flow of the game mirrored the 2016
election. People were rooting against
the Patriots simply because some of the people in the organization had amicable
relationships with the President. Of all
the reasons to hate on the Patriots (and as a Steelers fan I know many), THAT'S
the one they selected? It's mind-boggling.

Political beliefs are now our
national measuring stick. If you own a
clothing line and you express support for the wrong side, you can expect a
boycott, some clever but probably inaccurate memes, and your celebrity
endorsements to vanish. “Hey, let's go
see a movie tonight. How about
______?” “No way! That movie was directed by __________, who
supports _______________.” Sitcoms,
sketch comedy, late night hosts, music videos, the list goes on and on. All poisoned with the venom of partisan
politics.

Some folks might want to point to
President Trump as the cause for all this angst. He is certainly a polarizing figure, but his
presidency is a product of Obama's legacy of fomenting strife and
division. That's all Obama had to offer. Truthfully, the Left is legislatively dead;
they have nothing but the same tried-and-failed policy proposals they've always
had. That's why they keep changing their
label, from Democrat to Liberal to Socialist to Progressive – it's just brand
new lipstick on the same ugly pig.

The 2016 election results certainly
disappointed a great many people. I
appreciate how much effort and passion they put into supporting their
candidate. Unfortunately, many of them
are just unable to process the loss and move on. Instead, they insist #NotMyPresident and use
every opportunity to broadcast their opposition to the new administration. Some people had to get guidance on how to
“survive” a family Thanksgiving or Christmas because of who their family voted
for. Some folks chose not to get
together at all. The other day I read
where a woman initiated divorce proceedings because of who her husband voted
for. Madness, I say!

President Trump won a close
race. His margin of victory in the “Blue
Wall” states that put him over the top (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania)
wasn't all that great, and had the wife of The Man From Grope Hope,
Arkansas, not been such a miserable candidate she might have won them. Republicans would do well to remember that
and moderate their “scorched earth” urges.
I believe their best hope for ensuring the Democrat party remains the
minority party for years to come lies with peeling off Democrats who were left
behind or demonized by the identity politics of the Obama administration while
simultaneously finding ways to work with traditional Democrat party leaders
like Senator Manchin, Jack Webb, and Representative Gabbard.

Note that I am NOT saying the GOP
should surrender their advantage, that they should try and make nice with pit
vipers like Pelosi and Schumer, nor should they hold back pushing forward a
bold legislative agenda designed to reinvigorate and restore this nation. I'm saying do all that and more, but don't
make enemies of the folks on the other side who are open to sane policies.

I do my share of making fun of
Leftists, mostly because they are so entertaining to watch. That said, I've been making an effort to
avoid confrontations that I know will go nowhere. My SJW snowflake and I were sitting in front
of the TV the other night and she flipped over to MSNBC which was aflame with
the latest crisis of Trumpian proportions.
This has been dangerous territory for us in the past, but she turned the
TV off and said, “Dad, I'm exhausted by all this. How do politicians sleep at night?” I laughed, because I feel the exact same
way.

Psst...you. Yes you. The one that just finished reading the post. I've got something for you. A free copy of Bad Date by Declan Finn. Just sign up for his email list to get it. You'll also get 2-3 emails a month from Declan with added extras that no one else gets, plus advance notice of sales and appearances. It's an easy success...go for it.

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